Full name Timothy Stephen Curtis Name Tim Curtis Role Cricket Player | National side England Education Durham University 1979–97 Worcestershire Batting style Right-handed | |
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Born 15 January 1960 (age 64) ( 1960-01-15 ) Chislehurst, Kent, England Test debut 21 July 1988 v West Indies Last Test 14 August 1989 v Australia | ||
Bowling style Right-arm leg-break | ||
Timothy Stephen "Tim" Curtis (born 15 January 1960, Chislehurst, Kent) is a former England cricketer, English teacher and Director of Sport at RGS Worcester. He retired from teaching in 2016.
A right-handed batsman, Curtis was a prolific scorer for Worcestershire and county captain between 1992 and 1995. He is one of only two players to score 10,000 one day runs for the county, and during the late 1980s he had a brief but unsuccessful international career.
As cricket correspondent, Colin Bateman, stated Curtis was "a diligent, determined opener... brought in to stop the rot against the 1988 West Indians with about as much success as those who had gone before him".
Curtis was perhaps unfortunate to play in an era of very poor England performances and much was made of Curtis's batting stance and technique during his England career. In 1989, Terry Alderman frequently had Curtis lbw playing across the line and much of the TV media blamed this on his stance and backlift. This despite the fact that his opening partner Graham Gooch had a very similar set-up at the crease. While Curtis showed considerable patience and courage during his encounters with the West Indies, he looked highly suspect against Australia and at age 29 was not considered for the rebuilding process which England began under Graham Gooch's captaincy in 1990.
Life and career
Curtis moved to Worcestershire in the 1960s to live in Malvern, where he attended The Grove county primary school. He entered the Royal Grammar School Worcester, where he became captain of rugby and cricket and Head Boy of the school. He moved on to Hatfield College, University of Durham in 1979, where he captained the University cricket team. That year also saw his debut in first-class cricket.
In 1983, Curtis went to Magdalene College, Cambridge and gained a blue for cricket. After returning to Worcester to teach English at the Royal Grammar School, he played cricket for Worcestershire. Curtis is the only man, other than Graeme Hick, to have scored more than 10,000 runs in List A cricket for Worcestershire. In 1988, he was selected for England and played in a total of five Test matches against Australia and West Indies as an opening batsman. However, his international career was unsuccessful, and he never reached fifty in a Test innings.
In 1992, Curtis was appointed captain of Worcestershire, leading the county to success in that season's NatWest Trophy. He retired from first-class cricket in 1996 and continues to write about, and coach, cricket.
In 1994,he along with Tom Moody set the record for the highest ever partnership for the 3rd wicket in List A cricket history(309*)
Curtis had a spell as chairman of the Professional Cricketers' Association.